Breech-actuating and loading apparatus of heavy guns.



A. T. DAWSON @L J. HORNE;

BREEGH ACTUAUNG AND LOADING APPARATUS 0F HEAVY GUNS.

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A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE. BREECH ACTUATIN'G AND LOADING APPARATUS 0F HEAVY GUNS. APPucATlN FILED Nov. 5. |912.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOQRAPH C0.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE.

BREECH AcTuATlNG AND LOADING APPARATUS or HEAVY GuNs.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 1912. 1, 182,987, Patented May 16, 1916.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE.

BREECH ACTUATING AND LOADING APPARATUS OF HEAVY GUNS.

Patented May 16, 1916.

4 vSHEETS--SHEET 4.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 19.12.

THE coLumlA PLANOGRAPH C0.. wAsnlNa-roN, u. s.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oErcE.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, AND JAMES HORNE, OF

BARROW-IN-FURNESS, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS T0 VICKERS LIMITED, OF WEST- MINSTER, ENGLAND.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1916.

Application led November 5, 1912. Serial No. 729,565.

T0 all whom t may concern Be it known that we, ARTHUR TREvoR DAWSON, knight, and JAMES HORNE, both subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing, respectively, at Vickers House, Broadway, l/Vestminster, in the county of London, England, and Naval Construction Vorks, Barrow-in-Furness, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to the Breech-Actuating and Loading Apparatus of Heavy Guns, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to breech actuating apparatus of the kind set forth in the specilication of our prior British Patent No. 22043 of 1910, in which the breech actuating motor is situated on the slide frame and is provided with means whereby it operates to open the breech during the run out movement of the gun and to close the breech when the loading tray assumes its lowest position.

According to the present invention the control valve of the breech actuating motor is carried by the slide frame and is suitably connected with a spring bolt device also carried by the slide frame, which device is adapted to coperate with a stop or projection carried by a recoiling part such as the cradle, so that during the recoil of the gun the said projection depresses the spring bolt device but does not move the valve, while during the run out movement the said parts coperate to move the valve and cause the motor to open the breech. The said control valve is connected with another spring bolt device arranged contiguous to a projection moving with the hinged loading tray, which device is so constructed that as the tray assumes its loading position in the gun breech, the said projection will coperate with the said device to depress it without moving the control valve, while during the descent of the tray after loading, the said projection will engage with the spring bolt device to move the valve into a position to cause the motor to close the breech. The said spring bolt devices may be provided withhand operated contrivances by means of which they can be movedout of the path of their coperating projections so that the breech actuating motor can be controlled by hand if desired.

I/Ve provide an arm or the like movable with the carrier axis pin, and we form the loading arm with a cam surface, the arrangement being such that if the gun comes to rest before it reaches its fully run out position the said arm will engage with the cam surface and thereby positively prevent the breech actuating motor from fully opening the breech, and the parts of the mechanism from fouling parts of the gun mountings.

By means of our improvements we are able to dispense with the sliding rack, the pinion on the aXis pin engaging with the said rack, and the spring bolts with which the rack coperates in the constructional form of the invention described in the specitication of our aforesaid prior patent.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect we will describe the same more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a gun and mounting provided with a constructional form of our improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. l with the gun and certain other parts removed for sake of clearness. Figs. 3 and 4L are respectively a side elevation and y a sectional end elevation of a constructional form of the spring bolt device carried by the slide frame. Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged views of parts of Figs. l and 2 showing more clearly the spring bolt device arranged contiguous to the hinged loading tray, and Fig. 7 is a sectional side elevation of the device shown in Figs. 5 and 6 together with the stop or projection that coperates therewith. Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of the valve controlling connections.

In all these figures like letters of reference indicate similar parts.

A is the gun and B the cradle which moves therewith in recoil.

C is the slide frame for the cradle.

C is the loading arm and C2 the loading tray hinged thereto.

D is'the breech actuating motor arranged on the slide frame. j

D is the control valve of this motor and D2 the hand lever connected to the control valve.

E represents the spring bolt device carried by the slide frame and E the stop or proj ection that coperates therewith.

F represents the spring bolt device arranged contiguous to the hinged loading tray, and CX the projection moving with the said tray for cooperating with the said device F.

G represents the arm or the like moving with the carrier axis pin, and G the cam surface on the loading arm with which the arm G is adapted to coperate.

In the example shown, the control valve D of the breech actuating motor D is of the ordinary reciprocating type and is connected by means of a link CZ to the breech control hand lever D2 which is pivoted at its lower end on the slide frame. The said hand lever has connected thereto a rod e which at its forward end is connected to one' arm e of a two armed lever pivoted to the slide frame. The other arm c of this two armed lever carries a spring plunger E which constitutes one of the aforesaid spring bolt devices. The spring plunger E has its upper and forward face beveled or inclined as shown at eX in Fig. 3 so that when a beveled face cX on the rear of the aforesaid stop or projection E on the cradle comes into contact with the beveled face of the spring plunger during recoil, the latter will lbev depressed against the resistance of its spring and the two armed lever c', e2 will not be actuated.

During the run out movement of the gun the straight face EX on the front of the stop or projection E (as shown in chain lines in Figs. l and 3) engages with a corresponding face EX on the spring plunger E and the two armed lever e', e2 is rocked about its npivot in a clockwise direction, thus moving the breech control hand lever D2 and its valve D toward the left and causing the motor to open the breech. is, in the example shown, brought gentlyv to rest in the fully open position by means of a nut a carried by a screw-threaded shaft a actuated by the motor D, which nut operates through the lever La upon the link Z to move the valve D to its central position and thereby stop the motor.

' The breech control hand lever D2 is also connected by means of a rod f with the aforesaid spring bolt device F arranged contiguous to the gun loading tray. This device F comprises a spring plunger having a front beveled face fx (as seen in Fig. 7). The said plunger is carried by an arm f on a spindle f2 which is provided with another arm f3 connected to the said rod f. The projection CX is carried by the pivot pin C of the loading tray and has a beveled surface c* (Fig. 7 which is adapted to engage with the beveled face fx of the spring' plunger F during the raising of the tray C2 by the loading cage, thereby depressing the said plunger without movingthe arm f carrying it; the said projection assumes the position shown in chain lines in Fig. 7 when the loading tray is in position in the gun lThe breech block breech. lVhen the said tray descends after the gun has been loaded, the front face 0X* on the projection CX engages with the rear face position by theactuation of the control f valve D throughA the lever a and the link cl by a nut a* on the aforesaid screwthreaded shaft a operated by the motor.

Fig. 4L shows a constructional form of the aforesaid contrivance for rendering the spring bolt devices inoperative, the said contrivance being represented as applied to the plunger E. In this gure the aforesaid arms e', 62 of the two armed lever are connected together by means of a hollow spindle 62X, the arm e2 that carries the spring plunger being slidably connected to the said spindle by means of keys and keyways as shown. The outer end of the spindle c2* is screw-threaded to engage with corresponding threads in the boss of an actuating hand lever E2, To this hand lever is con nected a rod 63X which passes through the hollow spindle 62X and is attached at its inner end to the arm c2 carrying the spring plunger. By angularly displacing the hand lever E2X it will also move laterally owing to its engagement with the screw threads on the spindle 62X with the result that the rod 63X together with the arm c2 and its spring plunger E will be moved laterally into the position shown in Fig. 4f. The plunger E will then lie out of the path of the aforesaid projection E, the motor D will then be controlled by the hand lever D2. It will be understood that the arm f carrying the plunger F is also preferably under the control of an actuating hand lever in a similar manner to that described above. The aforesaid arm G moving with the axis pin, is in the example shown provided with a roller g and the cam surface G on the loading arm is so formed that during the normal run out of the gun there will be no impediment to the movement of the motor D in opening the breech. Fig. 2 shows in chain lines the various positions that the arm G occupies during the normal run out of the gun. If however the gun should not return to the fully run out position, the breech will be prevented from opening further, by the cooperation of the roller g with the cam surface G and the motor D will continue to rotate for a short time against the resistance of suitable friction plates which bring it to rest. On the gun eventually returning to the run out position the roller g continues to move in contact with the cam surface G and thereby governs the extent of the opening movement of the breech block during the final run out of the gun. The arrangement of this gear is such, that, should it be desired, the motor could be stopped by centering the control valve hand lever when the breech is being either opened or closed automatically.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame, the breech actuating motor and its control device carried by said slide frame', of a single spring bolt device on the slide frame, means for connecting said spring bolt device to the control device, and a projection on a recoiling part of themounting for cooperating with said spring bolt device to depress it without actuating the control device during the recoil movement of the gun and to actuate the control device during the run out movement of the gun.

2. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame, the breech actuating motor and its control device carried by said slide frame, of a spring plunger having an inclined face, a member slidably carrying said plunger, means for pivotally mounting said member on the slide frame, means for connecting said member to the control device, and a projection carried by a recoiling part of the mounting for coperating with said plunger.

3. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame, the breech actuating' motor and its control device carried by said slide frame, of a spring plunger having an inclined face, a member slidably carrying said plunger, means for pivotally mounting said member on the slide frame, means for connecting said member to the control device, a projection carried by a recoiling part of the mounting for coperating with said plunger, and manual means for moving said plunger out of the path of the said projection.

4. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame, the breech actuating member and its control device carried by said slide frame, of a spring plunger having an inclined face, a two armed lever pivoted to the slide frame one arm of which lever carries the plunger, means for connecting said member to the control device, a projection carried by a recoiling part of the mounting for coperating with said plunger', and manual means for displacing the arm carrying the plunger so as to move the latter out of the path of the said projection.

5. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame, the loading tray, the breech actuating motor and its control device carried by said slide frame, of a spring plunger having an inclined face, a member in which said plunger is slidably mounted, means for pivotally mounting said member on the slide frame, means for connecting said member to the control device, and a projection carried by the loading tray for coperating with the said plunger.

6. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame, the loading tray, the

`breech actuating motor and its control device carried by said slide frame, of a spring plunger having an inclined face, a member in which said plunger is slidably mounted,

means for pivotally mounting said member on the slide frame, means for connecting said member to the control device, a projection carried by the loading tray for cooperating with'the said plunger, and manual means for moving said plunger out of the path of the said projection.

7. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame and its loading arm, the breech actuating motor and the carrier axis pin, of a cam surface on said loading arm, and a member on the aXis pin adapted to co-perate with said cam surface.

8. In a gun mounting, the combination with the slide frame and its loading arm, the breech actuating motor and the carrier axis pin, of a cam surface on the side of the loading arm, a member on the lower end of the axis pin, and a roller on said member adapted to cooperate with said cam surface.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAVSON. JAMES HORNE.

Witnesses to the signature of Sir Arthur Trevor Dawson:

HENRY KING, JN0. R. CAsWELL.

Vitnesses to the signature of James Horne:

MARK G. ATKINSON, HENRY T. MODOWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

